Liar's Poker

Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street

Michael Lewis was fresh out of Princeton and the London School of Economics when he landed a job at Salomon Brothers, one of Wall Street's premier investment firms. During the next three years, Lewis rose from callow trainee to bond salesman, raking in millions for the firm and cashing in on a modern-day gold rush. Liar's Poker is the culmination of those heady, frenzied years--a behind-the-scenes look at a unique and turbulent time in American business. From the frat-boy camaraderie of the forty-first-floor trading room to the killer instinct that made ambitious young men gamble everything on a high-stakes game of bluffing and deception, here is Michael Lewis's knowing and hilarious insider's account of an unprecedented era of greed, gluttony, and outrageous fortune.

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Great insight from a rational person inside a irrational workplace. Gives you a good understanding of the bond market and the power that bond traders had back in the 80's/90's wall street era. Some of his characters in the book are thoroughly entertaining.

I'm a big fan of Michael Lewis' books so I have surprised myself that it is only now that I finished reading Liar's Poker. Also, I read this after I had finished reading The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, so in some ways it was curious to read about some of the people knowing how the epilogue went more than 20 years after.
So much has been said about Liar's Poker since it came out more than 20 years ago that I doubt I will be able to add more as a reviewer. I do want to call out a few points that stood out for me.

I think this book has some of the best explanations of bond market terms (and the distinction from stock market). I think it does a great job of illustrating how certain kinds of bubbles are created.

I truly enjoy Lewis' Wall Street bashing and not because I think automatically "Wall Street = evil" but because he systematically calls out the excesses and questionable/unethical practices. This is of course a recurring theme in multiple books but I think he always put the players' perspectives out clearly.

The only reason I can't give this 5 stars is because I thought it ended a bit abruptly and did not tie back to the dramatic scene in the first chapter.

Liar's Poker is touted by GTom Wolfe as the "funniest book on Wall Street" he's ever read. Well, Tom must know much more than I do because although I found this a humorous book in places, it never made me laugh aloud even once. However, the book did confirm what I've always suspected....that traders and brokers don't generally get rich through their investments, but through their commissions. Now show me the trader who gets rich through their investments and maybe I'll listen to them.

This is a fantastic book that explains how bad people can behave on Wall Street. Lewis covers the ego driven machismo of trading floor personnel. His experience as a Wall Street associate is one that many of us can relate to.People do not have to work on Wall Street to behave badly. The jokes, the abuse and the immaturity are something that many men/women have a firsthand familiarity with. I rather enjoyed the personal stories and felt that he covered the topic well. This is a great read for any aspiring trader, but the story can carry over to any construction site or office across America and the world.

CorwinK
Apr 25, 2011

With Liar's Poker you get a really compelling writer with a wonderful story to tell. Highly recommended for anyone interested in finance or even who has investments. This is a peek behind the curtain to see how the investment sausage gets made and its not pretty but its often pretty funny.

It almost feels like Lewis dressed up as a bond trader for this book, as Sacha Baron Cohen dressed up as a Kazakh for Borat. Hilarious insight into how scheming, selfish, and shameless behaviours are rewarded with unrestrained power and money. You gotta love Wall Street.